Hi! It’s Gabe from Fluent Forever. Today, I’m sharing some tips on choosing the right
language coach for you and how to maximize that collaboration.
But first, if you want a bit of context into the language coaching world,
take a look at last week’s video, where you’ll learn a bit about our online language coaching
program, also known as Live Coaching, the difference between a coach and a tutor,
and whether or not you need a coach to help you reach your language learning goals.
Ok. Without further ado, let’s jump in!
For me, language learning is a memory challenge above everything. So when I’m looking for a
language coach, I want someone who can help me build memories that are relevant to me
and are as sticky as possible. Specifically, I want someone who has these three skills:
Number 1: Keep the content relevant to me. I mentioned last week how personalized our
Coaching is. We’ve seen amazing results come from tailoring each learners’ Coaching curriculum to
their interests and language goals. So, for me, my coach should ask about my interests within the
first couple of sessions, and we should stick to talking about that content as much as possible.
Number 2: Keep the content about me. OK, I know this is sounding very me me me, but really…it
is about me! This is my time, my money, my effort that I’m spending to learn a language. If my coach
can keep the content about me, I’ll learn twice as fast compared with more non-specific content.
Now, it’s totally fine if the coach talks about themselves here and there, but
when you’re learning to talk about your life in your target language,
that’s going to stick much better than talking about abstract, irrelevant topics.
And number 3: Push me to stay in my target language.
The moment I try to talk about a topic that I don’t have all the words for, I have two options:
One, I can jump to English. But if I do that, I’m depriving myself of a learning opportunity,
and I want my coach to remind me of that by gently pushing me back
into my target language. It’s okay if they help me translate a missing word or two, but
I want them to ask me to say my intended sentence with the new words I just learned,
rather than let me take the easy road and revert back to English.
Second option? Resist jumping to English. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable while I
search for the word or sentence I want to say. If I choose that option,
I’m going to learn the fastest, even though it can be maddeningly frustrating at times!
You want a coach who’s happy to have looong conversations about very little.
OK, so we’ve got the three skills I recommend looking
for when you’re scouting out a prospective coach.
But how do you know whether they have these three skills?
You could try asking these four open-ended questions.
If your prospective coach answers that they tailor their sessions around their students’ interests,
that they collaborate with the student to create relevant examples for every new piece
of information, and that they use as little English as possible, then you’re in good hands.
If they don’t respond in that way, it’s not necessarily the end of the world. You can
continue chatting to see if they’re comfortable adapting their teaching style to match your needs.
I’ve found that, more often than not, I can guide a coach into becoming exactly the kind I need them
to be, as long as I keep those three skills in mind when I’m in my first coaching sessions.
That’s it for my tips on choosing the best coach for you and how to get the most out of working
with one. If you’ve ever struggled with motivation or long-term retention in language learning,
try out language coaching. It can mean the difference between casually flirting
with a language and truly reaching fluency.
Our Live Coaching programs are there for you when and if you need them. As a reminder,
we now offer coaching in 12 languages, and we’ve trained all of our coaches on those three skills,
as well as our very effective 4-step method.
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